Pokémon Go’s free new daily item is just what many players need

polygon.com:

Pokémon Go’s player base is divided into haves and have-nots. Players who live in robust towns or major cities have easy access to multiple PokéStops to earn items, gyms in which to do battle, and spawns where they can catch Pokémon. But for players in more rural and remote areas, Pokémon Go is a game of conservation, and sometimes starvation. Many players don’t have access to daily PokéStop spins where they can earn Poké Balls or encounter Pokémon in the wild.

Niantic finally has some relief for the have-nots: a new free item called Daily Adventure Incense that, for 15 minutes a day, brings Pokémon to you, including creatures not normally found in the wild. The only catch is that you need to be actively on-the-move for it the incense to work. Players who use their Daily Adventure Incense will get a fresh new Pokémon spawn every 30 seconds, similar to how the existing standard Incense item works while walking.

Daily Adventure Incense also comes with a bonus batch of Poké Balls, if players are running low (meaning they have 30 or fewer total Poké Balls in their inventory when they pop the new incense).

The best part? Daily Adventure Incense is free, and Pokémon Go players will get a dose of that new Incense every day — but they can only hold one at a time.

Niantic has made several pandemic-related gameplay concession to Pokémon Go since 2020, including adding Remote Raid Passes and making it easier for players to reach PokéStops and gyms from farther away. Some of those changes have since been revised or rescinded. Daily Adventure Incense is a different kind of example, one that looks to the past, not just the present.

“Coming out of the past two years of this pandemic, something we’ve been really thinking about is how